The short answer
You can pray for healing in your own words, as simply as you would ask a friend for help. Tell God what’s wrong, ask him to heal, and ask for strength while you wait. The Bible is full of prayers like this, some only a line long: “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.” (Jeremiah 17:14). The seven prayers below are for different moments.
A short prayer for healing
Use this when you don’t know what else to say. If you’re praying for someone else, put their name in it.
Lord, you see everything that is wrong in this body. Please heal it. Give wisdom to the doctors and nurses, strength for each day, and peace while we wait. I trust you with what I can’t control. Amen.
A prayer for healing for yourself
Being sick can make prayer hard. You’re tired, in pain, or scared of what the next test will show. The psalms let you be honest about all of it: “Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint. LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.” (Psalm 6:2).
Father, I’m worn out and I need you. Please heal my body, and calm my fear while I wait to get better. Give me patience on the hard days and gratitude on the good ones. Help me rest when I need to, and accept help from the people who love me. Whatever happens, keep me close to you. Amen.
A prayer for a sick friend or family member
When Paul’s friend Epaphroditus fell ill, Paul didn’t pretend it was nothing: “For indeed he was sick nearly to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.” (Philippians 2:27). When someone you love is sick, you carry their pain and your own sorrow too.
Lord, I bring you someone I love. You know their name, their pain and their fear. Please heal them. Ease their suffering, guide the people caring for them, and surround them with your peace. Show me how to help, and keep me from wearing myself out with worry. Amen.
A prayer for recovery
Getting better often takes longer than we’d like: weeks of rest, physical therapy, small steps forward and a few back. A psalm pictures God at the bedside the whole way: “The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.” (Psalm 41:3).
Lord, thank you for bringing me this far. Keep my body healing, day by day. Give me patience with the pace of it, and the discipline to do what my doctors ask, even when it’s hard. Restore my strength, and when I’m well again, don’t let me forget how you carried me. Amen.
A prayer before surgery
The hours before surgery can be some of the most anxious of your life, because all you can do is wait. Psalm 139 says there is nowhere you can go that God isn’t with you, and that includes an operating room: “If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.” (Psalm 139:9–10).
Lord, I put myself in your hands as I go into surgery. Steady the hands of the surgeon and everyone on the team. Give them clear minds and good judgment. Keep me safe while I’m asleep, and wake me gently when it’s over. Comfort the people waiting for news, and give us all your peace. Amen.
A prayer for a broken heart
Not every wound is physical. Grief, betrayal and depression hurt too, and God cares about them just as much: “He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3).
God, my heart is broken, and I don’t know how to fix it. Be near to me, as you promise to be near to the brokenhearted. Hold the pieces I can’t hold. Send me people who will listen, and give me the courage to tell them the truth. Heal me slowly if it has to be slow, but please heal me. Amen.
If you are thinking about harming yourself, please don’t wait. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time of day or night. Elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
A prayer when healing doesn’t come
Sometimes healing is slow, and sometimes it doesn’t come in this life. That isn’t a sign that you prayed wrongly or didn’t have enough faith. Paul begged God three times to take away what he called “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), and it stayed. He came to say, “For when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Lord, I have asked you again and again, and I’m still waiting. I don’t understand why, and I’m tired. Please don’t let me lose hope, or lose you. Give me strength for this day and grace for the next. If healing doesn’t come the way I want, carry me through what does. Amen.
The Bible holds out a last promise for everyone who waits: a day when God “will wipe away tears from off all faces.” (Isaiah 25:8).
Praying for the sick with others
The Bible never asks the sick to pray alone. James gives the clearest instructions: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14).
- Tell a few people you trust what’s going on, and ask them to pray. It’s hard to ask, but it’s what James tells us to do.
- Ask your church to pray with you. Many churches still pray over the sick and anoint them with oil, at home or in the hospital.
- Pray for the caregivers as well as the person who is sick: the nurses, the doctors and the family members who are tired.
- Keep praying. James ends with a promise: “The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.” (James 5:16).
For verses to pray through, see our list of Bible verses about healing.
Common questions
What is the most powerful prayer for healing?
No prayer works like a formula. God hears short prayers and long ones, words and tears. When you can’t find words at all, Paul says that God’s Spirit prays for you “with groanings which can’t be uttered.” (Romans 8:26). A one-line prayer from the heart is as powerful as a long one.
What should I say when praying for healing?
Say what’s true. Name the illness, tell God how you feel about it, ask him to heal, and ask for what you need today, whether that’s sleep, courage or good news from a test. Then thank him for something, even something small.
Can I pray for healing for someone else?
Yes. Many prayers for healing in the Bible are for other people, from friends who carried a paralyzed man to Jesus (Mark 2:1–12) to the elders James tells to pray over the sick. Praying for someone by name, and letting them know you are, is one of the kindest things you can do.
What Bible verse is a prayer for healing?
Jeremiah 17:14 is the best known: “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed.” Psalm 6:2 and Psalm 41:3 pray for healing too, and Psalm 30:2 thanks God afterward: “LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.”